So simple, so elegant, and the period so missed by those who experienced it.

I'm hoping the slot car will be the same. A driver's car that can be tail out drifted around corners.....car control not just quick reflexes to punch a car from corner to corner.

In the mid 60's I remember everyone running "German" tires and the cars were drifted around the turns. We were fudging scale and running smaller diameter tires. For this car I'm going to try scale size wheels and tires:

Glad I could help Bob. You know, Bob Braverman built a 1/32 scale (although a rather large 1/32 scale ) rail dragster using a Pittman 196. He ran a 12V version on 30V or so. My little car runs so well and seems to still be pulling at the end of my straight even with 4:1 gearing. Makes me want to try a 196/65-6V on a 14V on the strip.

Hi Don, like you suggest, I wanted to be able to configure the drop arm based on how the car handled...would it be a wheel stander and need a heavier arm for example? As a machinist I was always screwing things together so I just drilled and tapped each end of a piece of 1/8" K&S brass rod 2-56....done.

Thanks Joe. Mike Steube's scratch building video really motivated me. He soldered things together and went back with more heat, flux and maybe a tiny bit more solder until the joints were nice and smooth. I do my best to try and do the same thing.

That said, I'm not using a Weller electric soldering gun like the guys in the magazines anymore either!

I finished up the mechanical aspects of the car with a beefed up drop arm with a down stop that also serves as a cross brace:

I fit the down stop arm between the axle tube and the drop arm up stop. The result is very little "drop" (movement) which I think is usually a good thing on today's tracks. But hey, a vintage West Coast car has got to have a drop arm:

"Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch"............I get closer to finishing a project.

I'm using for the body build:

An original Lancer Lotus 25 body

Russkit "Praying Mantis" driver

Revell BRM mirrors

Paint brush ferrules for exhaust pipes

1/16" aluminum tube for the roll bar

And I thought I was going to make the velocity stacks from 1/8" aluminum tube:

After I drilled 1/8" holes in the body I remembered I had 8 smaller diameter, pre-formed velocity stacks left over from a previous build. I came up with a "fix". I used brass axle spacers as a reducer for the smaller stacks:

An exhaust "trumpet" made from the donor paint brush:

The driver's body and the interior base needed to be clearanced for the motor's brush spring. The mirrors were drilled and fitted with .047" wire mounts. I also inserted wire into the drivers head to hang onto while painting:

The body ready for paint:

I'm going to try and mix up a green that looks like this picture. I know a picture is not necessarily the exact color of the real car but I kind of like the color:

At the Hornchurch club Dad raced at back in the day their lap record for F1's was still held by a 196B powered car when it closed in 69/70. That's even with their 2 club rewinders winding some hot can motors!

I just finished a 1/2 MGD paint job. I tried to mix a more olive green like the picture but I didn't like what I created......kind of a muddy green look. I dumped in some flat sea blue and this is what I ended up with: